Gums and jellies now account for around 25% of sugar confectionery sales. According to AC Nielsen data, sales increased 4% in the past 12 months, which was slightly ahead of the sugar confectionery market as a whole.

If you haven't updated your chewing gum offer lately, you could be missing out on one of the fastest-growing areas of forecourt sales. That's the message from the two main chewing gum manufacturers who are churning out new and innovative products aimed at capturing consumers' imagination.

The big three chocolate manufacturers - Cadbury Trebor Bassett (CTB), Mars and Nestlé Rowntree - all have the same message for forecourt retailers in the run up to Easter 2008. Stock up on filled and mini eggs, they say, and cash in on the impulse sales they bring.

When it comes to chocolate, we're all getting a little bit posher in our tastes. Forget your cheap and cheerful offerings, customers increasingly want better quality chocs in fancier packaging. And so it is that the premium sector is one of the main trends driving today's chocolate market for retailers.

Less fat, less sugar and more fruit juice. That basically sums up what's going on in the sugar confectionery market. So we have Maynards Wine Gums Light with 50% less sugar than the standard line, and Haribo Lite, which is a selection of fruit-flavoured, fruit-shaped gums which have 30% fewer calories and 40% less sugar than standard gums. You can see why manufacturers are keen to jump on the healthy bandwagon when you look at Mintel statistics that state sales of healthier confectionery products have grown by 40% since 2001, and are now worth around £400m.

Just how badly the Cadbury salmonella scare has affected the chocolate market is hard to say but that, on top of record summer temperatures and consumer concerns over health and obesity, have all been bad news. However as we head towards the autumn - and more importantly - towards Christmas, there are glad tidings ahead as the manufacturers wheel out their festive ranges.

Toxic Waste, Atomic FireBlast and Gum Powder can all be found on the shelves of the Murco garage in the Willesborough suburb of Ashford, Kent, and manager, Roberto Di Duca, says he can't get enough of them. Of course they are not as bad as their names suggest, but are just the latest in a long line of kids' sweets. Roberto says the 69p Brain Lickers are particularly popular: "They come in boxes of 12 and I sell between seven and eight boxes a week." Brain Lickers are described as a 'sour candy drink' and delivered in a roll-on deodorant-style dispenser. The Murco garage is situated within yards of two large secondary schools and is also en route to several other schools. Roberto recently put in a 1m sugar confectionery display (six shelves deep), supplied by Bonds, right next to the till to satisfy the demands of the sweet-toothed children. This is home to dozens of gaudy novelty sweets with names like Mega Mouth candy spray, Snot Shots, Garbage Trolley and Fizz Bombs. Bonds supplies the bulk of the sweets but Roberto also goes to the Booker Cash & Carry depot in Folkestone to see what's available. His wife Lucy is his secret weapon: "She comes with me and picks out what she thinks will sell and she's always right," he says.

Christmas is coming and with it the countless number of special chocolate lines – advent calendars, tree decorations, selection packs and mega-size tins to name but a few. However according to Andrea Taylor, trade relations manager at Masterfoods, forecourts shouldn’t get too carried away with seasonal lines: “You’ve got to remember that singles account for 72% of a forecourt’s chocolate sales, large bags account for 20%, so seasonal lines account for just 8% of sales.” Well-established chocolate countlines continue to be the first choice for forecourt confectionery shoppers, with Mars and Snickers the top sellers. Says Taylor: “Of the top 10 singles in forecourts half are kingsize variants, which reflects the forecourt shoppers’ profile – that 62% of forecourt shoppers are male and 50% are between the ages of 24 and 44. “Forecourts need to make sure that everyday chocolate is always in stock. Seasonal lines are really just the icing on the cake for them.” Taylor reckons forecourts should be stocking Masterfoods bitesize products too, especially. The range was recently relaunched in pouch packs, a move that Masterfoods believes will result in a 15% uplift in sales. And when it comes to Masterfoods’ Christmas lines, Maltesers is the absolute must-stock. Says Taylor: “Maltesers is number one in the branded gifts category, indeed three out of the top five branded gifts last Christmas were Maltesers products.” The Maltesers range comprises 146g box, 312g box, 400g box plus three buckets: milk chocolate, white chocolate and the mixed mega bucket. Meanwhile Cadbury Trebor Bassett’s (CTB’s) countline activity recently saw the launch of Cadbury Dairy Milk Turkish in a single bar format. The flavour has been available in a block since 2003 but sales have exceeded all expectations, with it achieving the company’s best cash rate of sale after Cadbury Dairy Milk. The new bar has a recommended retail price of 40p. Mike Tipping, CTB’s head of customer relations, says: “Cadbury Dairy Milk Turkish does not replace Fry’s Turkish Delight. The new single line will build on the existing success of Cadbury Dairy Milk Turkish in the 200g format and will introduce a new generation of consumers to the flavour.” The company has also launched a range of share tubs, which contain individually-wrapped, bite-sized chunks of Cadbury Dairy Milk; Cadbury Dairy Milk Variety; and Cadbury Crunchie. CTB hopes the new Great To Share tubs will help retailers capitalise on the lucrative trend for informal sharing – occasions such as a ‘big night in’ or low-key dinner party. Rrp for the new lines is £2.49 and they are available from September 12. With more than 900 million ‘evening in’ occasions estimated to take place in the UK every year, it is expected that the tubs will be worth £22m in their first year alone.

Some suppliers are saying sales of sugar confectionery are up slightly and others are saying the market’s flat, but one thing they are all agreed on is that hanging bags are the big sales success story for forecourts. That’s because in cars up and down the country, glove boxes are full of sweets – there to help relieve boredom and aid concentration on tedious journeys.

Unfortunately the grocery multiples have taken a lot of the profit out of Easter for convenience retailers, either with or without a forecourt. The reason is that the multiples have done so many cut-price promotional deals that in a lot of cases Easter eggs have become a commodity. Of course you’ll already know this but what you may not know is that the major confectionery manufacturers still believe forecourts have a huge part to play in the Easter egg market. It’s just a case of picking and choosing your eggs carefully – stocking the impulse filled egg lines along with luxury gifting lines and leaving the smaller, lower price eggs for the mults to fight over.

Confectionery sales are worth £4.88bn in the UK (AC Nielsen Scantrack Impulse), with retail sales having grown by £800m in 2003. Chocolate confectionery sales account for £3.36bn of this and increased by 2.5% in 2003, according to Cadbury Trebor Bassett’s Confectionery Report 2003. This gain was achieved despite falling sales during last year’s hot summer as sales shot up in the September to December period. With similar weather this year, retailers should pull out all the stops to maximise sales in the autumn period.

All the major manufacturers seem to be turning their attention to the sugar stuff, which is great news for forecourt retailers. This is because, firstly, sugar confectionery gives them a higher profit margin than chocolate, and secondly, many consumers prefer sugar products when they are travelling, especially with kids in the car, as they’re usually far less messy.

With Valentine’s Day safely out of the way and all those red roses and chocolate hearts sold, forecourt retailers can look forward to a double whammy on the confectionery sales front – Mother’s Day on March 21, followed by Easter on April 9-12.

Sugar confectionery sales are growing three times faster than chocolate, according to The Haribo Report 2003, which attributes the growth to new product development and increased market support. It puts the value of the total sugar confectionery market at £993m and says that the top performers are gums & jellies, soft & chewy fruits and family-sized bags.

Confectionery is possibly the ultimate impulse purchase, with 70 per cent of consumers buying chocolate and sweets on the spur of the moment. But, according to Nestlé Rowntree, the category hasn’t been as profitable as it could have been.